Slow seeking and overall slow performance

[kzurburg]

I just received my Vero4K+ after ordering it 1,5 months ago.

I Installed it and was very eager to test out the 4k beast it states it should be. Well, that turned out to be the opposite

I moved from an Intel NUC with i3 4 series processor to the Vero 4k to be able to play 10bti hevc files. The Intel NUC would play anynthing you would throw at it, except HEVC files above 80mbit bitrate . Seeking and overall performance of the menu (i use (fuse)neue) is super fast and snappy. Skipping movies (10 sec or 10 mins) goes without any stutter or delay and is almost instant. This while playing 1080p BluRay rips (18gb filesize). I would expect that the Vero4K would have no issues playing these files too, and would be able to play the 4k 10bit files to.

When turning on the Vero4K for the first time, i was already greeted by a 20% overscan for some reason, so after fixing that, i would go and test my Jellyfish 140mbit HEVC 10bit file. After some initial buffering, the file would play perfect (yay!!!11). But after some time, stuttering and buffering So i tried a smaller file (120mbit), that one plays fine without any issues.

Then I started noticing that seeking through the movie was really slow. Even the smaller 1080p or 720p files would buffer after every seek of 10 sec, and sometimes even takes a second or two to continue playing the movie.

I also noiced that the overall menu performance was a lot slower and less “snappy” than on the good 'ol Intel NUC, so I was getting more and more dissapointed.

Then the IT person in me started working on the issue. So i tested the network performance first. Iperf3 gave me a perfect 1,08gbit to the Windows Server 2012 R2 server, hosting the files. So that should not be it. Then I check if i have all the needed updates, no updates available unfortunately.

Then fired up another 10bit HEVC movie sample, a 10bit HEVC 4K movie trailer. First thing I noticed was how dark the picture was. Just to be sure I checked a regular 1080p version, which was a lot better. To rule out the sample itself, I fired up the Intel NUC again. The 10bit file played with a stutter, but did not show the darkness the Vero4k showed.

In all, a lot of issues with the 4K+. I am wondering, do I have defective unit? Am I missing a setting somewhere? If this is really what the 4K+ is capable of, I am really hoping i can get a refund, because this is not as promised…

[kzurburg]

Please relist then, i edited the post. What kind of logs would you want me to post?

[Tom_Doyle]

Hi,

How to submit a useful support request - General - OSMC)

Thanks Tom.

[kzurburg]

https://paste.osmc.tv/umotivuyib

there you go.

[Tom_Doyle]

Hi,

@kzurburg

Iperf3 gave me a perfect 1,08gbit to the Windows Server 2012 R2 server

Could you please provide the results of those tests, also reversing the test may help as well:

iperf3 -R -c

Also you may benefit from using kernel mounts, rather than kodi soft mounts:

Mounting network shares with autofs (alternative to fstab)

This how-to describes how to mount your network shares via autofs. Autofs should be as performant as fstab based mounting but has the advantage that your shares are mounted on demand which also should give you more reliability in case of network interuptions. First install the autofs package sudo apt-get install autofs If you already have mounted your shares already via fstab comment out that line in fstab and reboot. For this how-to we are going to use a directory for each server, if you wa…

As for 10bit 4k being dark, searching for previous topics should give you the settings required; I think.

Thanks Tom.

[sam_nazarko]

@kzurburg

In all, a lot of issues with the 4K+. I am wondering, do I have defective unit? Am I missing a setting somewhere? If this is really what the 4K+ is capable of, I am really hoping i can get a refund, because this is not as promised…

You can definitely return for a refund, but more interested in solving the issues here.

What display do you have? Is it a 4K / HDR ready display? Do you have an AVR in between?

The darkness of some HDR content has been addressed and will be available in the next update. We have also made some HDR improvements that will be released shortly. But we need more feedback. See HDR too dark on TV - #163 by WilliamG

See [TESTING] Vero 4K / 4K + video improvements. It’s for more advanced users but if you’re using Windows Server I assume you’re not shy re. SSH.

Cheers

Sam

[kzurburg]

I have a Denon receiver in between the Vero 4K+ and my Samsung TV. It’s not 4K / HDR.

I did a hard reset of the 4K+ and playing files seem to be a bit better, though not as smooth as on the Intel NUC. The thing that annoys me the most though is the menu interface. Its sluggish and the page transitions are choppy.

I will see if hardmounting the network drives will make a difference, but i dont think it will fix the sluggish menus.

[sam_nazarko]

@kzurburg

The thing that annoys me the most though is the menu interface. Its sluggish and the page transitions are choppy.

Have you set the GUI interface to 4K by any chance?

Sam

[kzurburg]

Nope. 1080p

[sam_nazarko]

Is it choppy in the sense that it takes a bit for artwork to appear?

Sam

[gb160]

Ive only been using it for a short while, but noticed that some heavy skins can be a little sluggish, although performance is perfectly reasonable on the osmc and estuary skins.

Maybe some people are expecting too much (HTPC performance) from a 100 quid device.

[sam_nazarko]

There will be some performance updates in the next update. Worth revising then.

Kodi v18 also has some nice speed ups

Sam

[gb160]

I’ve been using the Leia nightlies, first thing I did to it was install that.

I’ve turned off fanart which seems to make quite a difference when scrolling in library views.

Something I’ve noticed is that it seems to be related to how much stuff is loaded into the view.
For example, when scrolling through my TV shows, about 100 or so, a slight judder is noticeable…when I enter a show with quite a few seasons, and scroll through the seasons, it’s as smooth as butter.

Saying that though I really don’t see a major issue when you consider the price and overall performance…it’s a damn good little device.

[kzurburg]

Ok so today i finally got some time to spend on the Vero4K+ again.

First advice I took was installing the Leia nightly build. This seems to be running a little bit better than the v17 one.

Second thing i did was using NFS instead of SMB. WOW!! that really made the difference that i was looking for, atleast skipping and searching in movies wise. Seeking is now almost instant. No more buffering whatsoever!

Only thing left now is the menu interface. It is still a little choppy. I tried different skins (Estuary, mimic and the default OSMC one) but they just don’t feel as snappy as my Intel NUC made it feel. Maybe that is just something i have to get used to…

Other thing is that h265 / 4K files are still to dark to watch. Can someone direct me to the topic that could fix that issue?

[sam_nazarko]

@kzurburg

Other thing is that h265 / 4K files are still to dark to watch. Can someone direct me to the topic that could fix that issue?

You can see the video improvements thread or wait for the next update.
I expect to introduce some performance improvements in the next update for Vero 4K + too.

[gb160]

@sam_nazarko

I expect to introduce some performance improvements in the next update for Vero 4K + too.

Will these improvements be in the Leia nightlies Sam?
Happy to help with any testing if required.

[sam_nazarko]

They will be added at the kernel level so independently of Kodi version

[gb160]

Cool, I look forward to it!